In the past 20 years, there has been no significant improvement in the number of firms that are quoted on the Nigerian capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission has said.
It said this while analysing the Nigerian capital market in its report on Financing Nigeria’s Budget and Infrastructure Deficits through the Capital Market, which was obtained in Abuja on Friday.
In an analysis of the relative size of the country’s capital market, the SEC, however, stated that despite the insignificance in the number of listed firms, the market had recorded some periods of appreciable capitalisation.
The commission said, “(The) number of listed firms have not significantly improved in 20 years. But there are periods of increased capitalisation, for example, currently.
“(This is) coming largely from the ability to attract larger firms, for example, Dangote, MTN, etc, or increase in valuation.”
It stated that the Nigerian Stock Exchange was still small when matched against its peers across the globe.
This, it said, was due to less number of listings on the market, as it stressed that the capital market required growth.
The SEC said, “(When) compared to many markets we may consider as peers or targets, Nigeria market is still relatively small. Low market capitalisation ratio and few listing.”
The commission called for more investors to participate in the market.
